Reading Material in Early Modern England
Reading Material in Early Modern England

Author: Heidi Brayman Hackel

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2005-02-17

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 9780521842518

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Reading Material in Early Modern England rediscovers the practices and representations of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English readers. By telling their stories and insisting upon their variety, Brayman Hackel displaces both the singular 'ideal' reader of literacy theory and the elite male reader of literacy history.

Reading, Society and Politics in Early Modern England
Reading, Society and Politics in Early Modern England

Author: Kevin Sharpe

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2003-07-10

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 113943683X

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This book ranges over private and public reading, and over a variety of religious, social, and scientific communities to locate acts of reading in specific historical moments from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. It also charts the changes in reading habits that reflect broader social and political shifts during the period. A team of expert contributors cover topics including the processes of book production and distribution, audiences and markets, the material text, the relation of print to performance, and the politics of acts of reception. In addition, the volume emphasises the independence of early modern readers and their role in making meaning in an age in which increased literacy equaled social enfranchisement and interpretation was power. Meaning was not simply an authorial act but the work of many hands and processes, from editing, printing, and proofing, to reproducing, distributing, and finally reading.

Sociability and Power in Late-Stuart England
Sociability and Power in Late-Stuart England

Author: Susan E. Whyman

Publisher: Clarendon Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 9780199250233

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This highly original study looks at rituals of sociability in new and creative ways. Based upon thousands of personal letters, it reconstructs the changing country and London worlds of an English gentry family and reveals intimate details about the social and cultural life of the period. Challenging current views, the book observes strong connections, instead of deep divisions, between country and city, land and trade, sociability and power. Its very different view undermines established stereotypes of omnipotent male patriarchs, powerless wives and kin, autonomous elder sons, and dependent younger brothers. Gifts of venison and visits in a coach reveal unexpected findings about the subtle power of women over the social code, the importance of younger sons, and the overwhelming impact of London. Successfully combining storytelling and historical analysis, the book recreates everyday lives in a period of overseas expansion, financial revolution, and political turmoil.